Friday, June 10, 2011

Elephants Remember Joplin started because Cee Cee wanting to help the tornado victims in Joplin,MO. Her mother was kind enough to send me the back story about her daughter wanting to help and learning that even one person can make a difference.

“I have to DO something” was the first thingmy daughtersaidafter we heardabout the tornado in Joplin. She was curled up in a chair talking to me while I worked. I asked her what she wanted to do. She said that she wanted to knit toys for the children thathadlost their homes…Wehad seen the pictures on the computer, I had heard a few of the stories…knitting toys was a nice gesture but the people of Joplin neededmore than that.

We talked about fundraisers anda read-a-thon my brotherhad donewhen he was five…this brought to mind many different options of how we could help monetarily also. In the end we hadtheidea to knit toysfor the children of Joplin - Asort ofelephant-a-thon!She could knit elephants and peoplefrom around the worldcould sponsor hereffortsand donate the moneydirectlyto the Red Cross. It was perfect. Exceptthat my daughter is 8 and knitting one elephant at any given time could takeanywhere fromtwo or three weeks. Every day for almost a weekprior to beginningwe talked about it…

”You’re going to get tired’ I would tell her…

"I will just keep knitting!’ she’d say…

”What are you going to do when you are busy?” I’d ask.

She’d just shrug and say “I will take it with me. I can do this.”

Finally she looked at me and saidresolutely: “I want to do hard things.”

We agreedwe would start on Memorial Dayand knit for approximately two weeks. Andwehave! We have created a FaceBook page (link) so that anyone interested in helping can track her progress, see the finished elephants and be inspired to help others as selflessly as this 8 year old. Simply friending the page has sent waves of joy and sparks of hope through her. People care! They want to help out!

She knits each elephant, andwhen complete,I put safety eyes on, stuffand sew them up for her. I help her when she gets in atangleand sometimes I pick up and do a row when she gets in a pickle.

Recentlyshe had two rows to finish to complete her fifth elephantand, exhausted,fell asleep knitting.After prying the needles from her sleeping hands,Icompleted the last two rows andfinished theelephant so thatwhen she got up in the morningthere was a completed one waiting for her to add to her ‘helping herd’.

Cascade Yarn has beenher yarn of choicebecause itisnot splitty and it holds up wellto the hardship of a toyand justgenerallymakes a nice elephant. Ifrequentlyuse Cascade sothatwhen she went digging for yarn in my basket, all of herfirstchoices werefor Cascade. We really enjoyour knittingtime together and yes,it’s a little tough at times…but we are humbled and amazed by the people cheering her on.

Anyone wanting to donate to her efforts to help the victims of Joplin, Missouri can simply donate to the Red Cross, earmarked for Joplin, and drop us a note that they have done so on our Facebook page. The money goes directly to the ones need it the most. And do stop by and like the page. You'll get updates on her progress, candid photos of her working, photos of her completed elephants and you will help a young girl to know that one person, no matter how small, can indeed make a difference.

2 comments:

I met this remarkable young lady at our LYS as she was picking out more Cascade Yarn for her elephants. I asked her what she was going to knit and she told me about her Elephant-a-thon. She is an absolute delight to talk to, and I was amazed and humbled by her determination to make a difference and help those in need.